One of my favorite SUVs of all time is the Volkswagen Touareg and its platform mate, the Porsche Cayenne. The Touareg is an off-road sleeper while the Cayenne is a giggle. I mean, it’s an SUV that can tow your race car to the track then itself go racing after you break your race car. It’s hard to improve on such a great vehicle, but I think someone might have actually figured it out. There’s a Porsche Cayenne for sale for $45,000 with a convertible top and I hate how much I love it.
The seller for this 2010 Porsche Cayenne GTS on Facebook Marketplace calls it a “Trans Siberian GTS.” Cayenne lovers will know that this refers to the fantastic Porsche Cayenne S Transsyberia Edition.
That SUV was a limited 600-unit production run of the Cayenne with striking graphics, off-road tires and other bits. Just a scant 102 of the vehicles — meant to celebrate Porsche’s victories of the Transsyberia Rally — made it to America.
Somewhere down the line, someone decided that a Cayenne shouldn’t be an off-roader, but a convertible.
I couldn’t fathom why anyone would do this to such a rare car, so I reached out to the seller. They told me that the owner is actually a good friend. That friend bought the Cayenne out in California and back then it had the decals and off-road wheel setup of the Transsyberia Edition.
This appears to be a former tribute car rather than a genuine Transsyberia Edition. The sticker under the hood says “Cayenne GTS” when a Transsyberia Edition has a sticker that says “Cayenne Transsyberia.” Porsche also says that the Transsyberia Edition is based on the Cayenne S with a GTS engine.
So I think it’s safe to put down the pitchforks and enjoy this absurd machine. I sure am!
The seller tells me that the conversion to a convertible was professionally done, and the top is electrically-operated. It’s supposed to work like a convertible Cayenne would have from the factory.
That said, the conversion does look a little janky because the doors are still framed. It’s the most jarring when you check out the back seats. And that roll bar would probably not do much in a rollover.
Under the hood is the 4.8-liter V8 making 405 horses and 369 lb-ft torque.
That’s more than enough power for you and the whole family to enjoy top-down SUV fun. It’s certainly enough power to leave a Nissan CrossCabriolet in your dust.
Out back is a tow hitch. The Cayenne has a 7,716-lb tow rating, so in theory you can still tow your race car to the track while catching those rays.
But I’m not sure if I’d want to.
The Cayenne rides on a unibody. If you’ve cut the roof off of a unibody car you know that things start getting bendy real fast without a roof structure to tie everything together.
If you haven’t been scared away just yet, I have to inform you that it’s $45,000 on Facebook Marketplace in River Oaks, Texas. Still, I can’t help but love this thing. I’d love to put some all-terrains on it then take it off-road; heart-shaped sunglasses on, blasting whatever lame music is in my library at the moment.
Hat tip to Edward!